William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Mar 19, 2012 11:42AM EDT
YRC Worldwide Chief Accounting Officer Paul F. Liljegren will leave the $4.9 billion company March 23 for a job outside the less-than-truckload industry, the company said in a notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.
Liljegren, who joined the struggling LTL operator in 2004, is one of several C-level executives who have left the company or whose positions have been eliminated since new CEO James Welch launched a management shakeout last year.
http://www.joc.com/ltl/yrc-worldwide-cuts-two-executives
Welch eliminated the positions of chief marketing officer, chief administrative officer and chief operating officer last year to transform YRC Worldwide into a more traditional holding company for four LTL operating company subsidiaries.
Much of the responsibility of the former YRC executives, such as former Chief Marketing Officer Gregory Reid, has been turned over to executives at national LTL carrier YRC Freight, and regional carriers Holland, New Penn and Reddaway.
The holding company “was way too involved and way too intertwined with the operating companies and was almost a disruptive force,” Welch said in an interview last month at the $4.9 billion company’s headquarters in Overland Park, Kan.
Welch, a former Yellow Transportation president, rejoined YRC when William D. Zollars, former chairman, president and CEO, stepped down in July after completing a $500 million financial restructuring of the trucking operator.
http://www.joc.com/trucking/yrc-worldwide-closes-restructuring-0
Liljegren, who is also senior vice president of finance, joined YRC Worldwide in 2004 as vice president of risk and assurance. He was named corporate controller and chief accounting officer in 2005 and briefly served as interim CFO.
However, Jamie G. Pierson was named CFO last November, and the restructuring, which put almost all YRC stock in the hands of institutional lenders and Teamsters employees, reduced the importance of Liljegren’s role as a conduit for investors.
http://www.joc.com/ltl/yrc-worldwide-names-pierson-cfo
Before joining YRC, Liljegren had a long career with Butler Manufacturing, a building components maker in Kansas City, Mo., that merged with BlueScope Steel in 2004.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc.
